Powering through a pixie grow-out!

[Felix_D]

My hair used to be a see-through-thin, unruly, tangled mess, so about 8 months ago I cut it to a pixie, and had been maintaining that since January this year.

I found LHC in January and realized that a large part of why my hair is so terrible is my own fault (ironing, bleaching, brushing with a cheap brush, washing with strong shampoo x2/day). So I decided to grow it out.

I'm powering through the most awkward stages, and I have to say it looks just terrible at the moment. The individual strands are in better condition, but I have lots of roots showing, and my wave is making it lie flat in weird places and stick out weird in other spots.

I told myself I would power through it, and get it down to shoulder length as quickly as possible (I estimate 3 months for the back, 1 year for the bangs), but my resolve is weakening. I feel so self conscious about how stupid the cut is. And it's still too short to put up. Plus I work in a very professional environment where everyone looks good all the time.

So help me out! Should I continue to grow? Or should I stretch out the growing and reshape it into a bob with small monthly trims? Tell me how you grew out your short cut!

I'm scalp massaging and taking a B-complex + MSM, but let me know of anything else you've found to work for powering up growth speed.

:cheese:

[nycstar]

I love the way you put it: powering through...

Yes, power-through! You may do what makes you feel comfortable (if you need to cut it then you will). However, here's my input:

Don't cut it. Since you work in that type of enviroment you might want to sleek it back and pin it on the sides since it's too short to cut. Wear pretty earrings to work to draw attention away from your current hair if it bothers you that much. You may also want to try hair accessories like cute headbands without combs that may hurt your hair. Stick it out... your hair does grow an average of six inches per year. If you wait, the cut won't be so drastic when you're ready to even things up.

[Annitta]

I have very short hair and like a little volume at the top, so i wear thin headbands a lot, in sutil colors, so it doesn't seem like i'm wearing them so much, but just looks so much better than let it poof to the sides! :p
I do different things, like let my bangs out or pulling the sides to the back with cute acessories, or even a bit thicker headbands, but its nice to have a little more basic look so it doesn't seem like i'm trying too hard changing the style so often.
I'm enjoying my short hair now, but i haven't had a long hairstyle since childhood (maybe 12 years ago), and i think it's time to give that a try again.

[morecowbell]

I feel for ya, Felix... I grew out a pixie in 2008, and it sucked royally! :(
Annitta's got some great advice: Buy hair accessories! I don't know what I would have done without headbands and cute clips! Scarves are great, too, and hats, hats, hats! (wigs would be better, and really cute! You can get some fairly inexpensive ones on Ebay)
Also, make sure you trim up the neck when it starts to look kind of mullet-y, I didn't do that, and that made growing it out even more horrendous!
If you really want longer hair, don't cut it back to a pixie! You'll be sad that you did when you see how much progress you'd made.

A lot of other advice for what makes hair grow faster can be found on this site, but taking a Daily Multivitamin doubles my growth rate, and scalp massages too... you might want to check out this thread
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=34933
It's really long, but there's some interesting info there. :)

HTH :) (and God speed! -literally) ;)

[Annitta]

I can't believe i've cut it my hair this lenght twice! It's not that bad, but i shouldn't have. :p I would love to be able to wear hats, but it's way too hot here in Brazil, in the south not so much, but isn't where i live anyway. I always trim the bottom layer, and will until i have a layered bob, from there is easier to grow.

[Bethie]

I am also at that awkward stage of growing out a pixie cut, so I wear thin headbands and little alligator clips to "pull up" the sides. Sometimes if I'm able to do it right, my husband says that it almost looks like I have 2 braids in my hair. I <3 that man, he helps me feel like I have pretty hair.

[MonikaHa]

I am growing out a severely layered hairstyle, and chemical color. There were hairs sticking in all direction, really all I could do with it was a ponytail. Yesterday I was so fed up with it, I went and got me a lovely BOWL CUT (as DBF said it), and even though it is very short I feel much better.
But it all depends on you, in my opinion, a nice bob would look neat for a professional work environment. Frequent micro trims would work too.

[Seagreen]

I too love your title... powering through, that's exactly how it feels to be growing hair past the "do I cut or do I power through" stage :)...keep growing it :blossom:

At the moment I am growing out brazilian blow-fried hair that was layered to within an inch of its life, it just sits above my jaw line at the moment... like a mullet/shag (!)

After posting on here to ask the lovely Hair Community what to do, I went out to buy an assortment of hair friendly clips - I twist all the layers (some only 3 inches) and make my hair into something Bjork would be proud of - it seems to work - other things that work are just pinning the top up and letting the underneath hang down.

I've also decided not to have my hair cut and bought some hairdressing scissors to deal with any thin ends myself - I don't trust hairdressers at the moment...

Good Luck :)

[Mexibeach]

I too am growing out a very short choppy layered cut. Power through we will!!!

[Luckysock]

you can do it! I say just grow it - not cutting. I trimmed a lot this year and got very little growth as a result - so I say invest in some clips, bobby pins, barrettes - whatever you need to get through it!

I'm in Toronto too! we'll have to share tips on where to shop for good hair stuff :)

[SharkDisco]

I went through a very similar stage, and all I can say is, don't cut! Time flies by, and sometimes even an extra inch of growth makes a huge difference to how your hair looks. I used to tie little braids on the underside of my thinned-out hair at night to give it more volume in the morning for my half-updos (when my hair was too many different, short lengths to tie back in a pony), and to control my random waves. As far as making hair grow faster, make sure you're getting enough protein. Even if it doesn't help with speed it should help make sure that the hair you do grow is healthy : )

I love the earring idea. I may start doing that on my own terrible hair days!

[Roseate]

Go! Go! You can do it!

Personally, when growing out from shaved/pixie cuts, I've always felt better trimming the nape layer as I go along, to keep the ultra-mullet away. But if you can make it without trims, more power to you. That pixie-to-chin phase is just the worst. Accessories and product are your friends!

[jaine]

I vote for no trimming!

A) Layers are awesome.

B) You can put it in an updo faster.

For me there's also another reason C) The front grows almost twice as fast as the back. (Although that will vary depending on the person of course.) So if I trim the back at all I would be so far behind!